"Better take care!" cried Jack, "or you'll fall off. I am tied fast, and you are not. Here, take this end of the rope and bind yourself."
"Never mind. I'm all right now," replied the young man, as he viewed the situation. "It is a tight scrape, and no mistake," he added. "Wonder how this tree is wedged fast? Must be between the rocks."
"Yes, and it won't hold fast forever," returned Jack.
"We must reach shore, if possible, without delay."
"Easier said than done. Now if we had a rope----"
"Will this do?"
"No; it isn't long enough. Hello! something's giving way already!"
At that instant the trunk of the tree quivered, and moved a foot or so nearer the falls.
"Hold fast for your life!" Jack called; "perhaps it has broken loose!"
He had hardly uttered the words before the tree snapped its fastenings and swept toward the falls.